Letters to Self by Bhawana Somaaya

on Oct 06, 2022

‘The exercise, though daunting, proved cathartic, and as the rolls of paper—some filled with joyous musings, some with anguished scribbles—piled into a mound, I felt strangely satiated. Not because my writing was of merit, but because I had accomplished the task I had set out for, and the final outcome—good, bad, superior, or mediocre—was secondary. The important point was that I owned my outpourings.’ – Narendra Modi, through most of his life, has taken the recourse of pen and paper to express his innermost thoughts and musings. These deep ponderings and ruminations, which came to life in rhyme and meter and which he forever hesitated to share with the world, express his unpolished and unrestrained ideas, dreams, and concerns on an array of subjects, ranging from the beauties of nature to the pressures and trials of life. Written over a span of many years, this collection of poems was first published in Gujarati as Aankh Aa Dhanya Chhe and has now been translated into English as Letters to Self by esteemed film journalist and historian Bhawana Somaaya.